400FT TO 4 100 ft rolls

Ryan Navazio · July 8, 2005

I recently shot a project on an ARRI SR2 with 400 ft loads. I ended up having an extra 400 ft roll when I was finished shooting but it is useless to me because I don't own the ARRI and won't be using it anytime soon. I own a bolex and I would like to be able to cut the 400ft roll down to 4 seperate 100ft rolls, does anyone know a reliable lab that can do this?

Stephen Williams · July 8, 2005

I recently shot a project on an ARRI SR2 with 400 ft loads. I ended up having an extra 400 ft roll when I was finished shooting but it is useless to me because I don't own the ARRI and won't be using it anytime soon. I own a bolex and I would like to be able to cut the 400ft roll down to 4 seperate 100ft rolls, does anyone know a reliable lab that can do this?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ask your local lab, they may say no but offer to let you do it yourself in their darkroom!

Stephen Williams DP

www.stephenw.com

Dieter Vansteenwegen · July 8, 2005

We did it once for a student film, shooting on an Aaton A-Minima. We ran out of film stock (which we knew would happen and told production but... well you get the picture :) ).

They couldn't get hold of the spools for the A-Minima from Kodak as soon as we needed them, but found the same stock on 400" rolls.

Watch out to keep the perforations & emulsion on the right side, or you might end up wondering what that sound is coming from your camera :) Took me a while to figure out how to do it right the first time, but it worked and we could continue shooting in about an hour...

Good luck!

Robert Hughes · July 8, 2005

You need a clean dark room, a pair of rewinds, and about 15 minutes to spool off 400' onto 100' loads. It's easy, but you need to wind off from the 400' load onto a temp reel, because the film is tails out, then respool onto the four 100' daylight spools.

July 8, 2005

Ground wire the rewinds and stand on a rubber mat. Sparks y'know from static will damage the film.

Ryan Navazio · July 12, 2005

Thanks for the help. I actually took it over to NFL films in NJ and the guys in the lab did the work for me. I'm definetly going to miss using NFL for process and transfer when I move out west. They have a great facility and the staff is super helpful and considerate of student work. Just thought I'd share that with everyone.